It is well known to those skilled in the art that, during handling and testing of circuit devices, electrostatic charges can be applied to the contact pads of such a device. These charges may be subsequently discharged through the device, thereby causing damage. One solution known in the prior art for preventing damage from these electrostatic discharge (ESD) events is to connect protection devices, such as p-n junction diodes, between each contact pad and its corresponding operations circuit. Typically, one such diode leads to a voltage source V.sub.cc and another leads to ground. In the event a sufficient charge builds up on a contact pad, one of the two diodes will activate and direct the charge away from the operations circuit. Further, the activation of the diodes will be based on their threshold voltage (V.sub.t). For example, a positive charge will be diverted towards the voltage source V.sub.cc when the contact pad's potential exceeds one V.sub.t above V.sub.cc. Alternatively, a negative charge will be diverted toward ground when the contact pad's potential is one V.sub.t below ground.
Occasionally, it is desirable to drive an operations circuit at voltages beyond the one V.sub.t parameters. Those of ordinary skill in the art know that the trip point for shunting charges can be changed by adding diodes to the configuration described above. Nevertheless, based on prior art teachings, changing the trip point for several operations circuits would require adding diodes for each contact pad. Unfortunately, these diodes, as well as other ESD protection devices, require a significant amount of die space. Thus, it would be desirable to provide ESD protection, while at the same time allowing for the alteration of the trip point without the space requirements necessary in the prior art.